Take Shelter Trailer: Michael Shannon Sees The Apocalypse, Now

It's a very, very good time to release the first trailer for Take Shelter. First there's the fact that the movie's female star, Jessica Chastain, is about to have a major breakout as the star of Terrence Malick's new film Tree of Life, which comes out this weekend. Second, Take Shelter recently screened at Cannes to another set of rave reviews to match the ones it got at Sundance. Third, it's a movie in which a character is worried about tornadoes, the kind of storm currently devastating the Midwest. And fourth, we've just gotten past May 21, a day many people predicted as the beginning of the end of the world; in Take Shelter, Michael Shannon's character becomes preoccupied with visions of the apocalypse, to the point that he sinks thousands of dollars into a backyard tornado shelter and alienates his wife and child.

So yes, it's hard to imagine a better time to watch this trailer, which debuted at Yahoo! and is also embedded below. I don't want to explain much more than what you see in the trailer, since it's a movie best viewed fresh and the trailer does almost too good a job laying out the film's many conflicts. If you want more on the movie you can read my Sundance review, but it really shouldn't take more than this trailer to convince you Take Shelter is a must-see. It hits theaters from Sony Pictures Classics later this year.